What is Ready to Rent?

Ready to Rent (RTR) is a housing readiness workshop that provides education, guidance and resources to help families and individuals develop the skills necessary to break down leasing barriers and cultivate positive leasing habits, while linking them with landlords and other mainstream services. The workshop is 12 hours, divided across 4 days, where participants learn to:

Repair their credit

Create a workable budget

Develop a housing search plan

Understand the application and rental process

Prioritize housing needs

Communicate effectively with their landlord

Review their rights and responsibilities and those of the landlord

Maintain appropriate housekeeping

Identify negative behavior patterns

Accept responsibility for past rental issues

Classes are taught at various locations throughout Wake County. Sessions are held once a month during the day and evenings.

Target Population

Our target population is consumers who have sufficient income to obtain affordable housing but have reached an impasse because of negative credit, criminal and rental histories or have not rented before; however, no one is denied the opportunity of taking the RTR program, because the information itself can be extremely valuable, whether they will rent now or in the future.

Why Rental Education?

Each year at least 600,000 families will experience some form of homelessness, and it is not always because they didn't pay their rent. Often, it could be a lack of renter education. Consumers may not be aware that they have rights or that there is someone to whom they can report when unethical landlord maneuvers take place. Unfortunately, these unethical actions will often go unchallenged because of the barriers the consumer faces in finding new housing; therefore, whatever the landlord says or does is accepted. Ready to Rent provides the information and guidance needed to overcome these barriers. For those who have never rented before, it is important to educate this group early, before they have to experience an eviction.

Who Does Ready to Rent Help?

Ready to Rent can benefit anyone who is willing to accept responsibility for their past and work diligently to chart a new course for the future. We are not a housing placement agency, and our focus is not placing consumers in housing – our focus is behavioral change. That means learning to identify and address the negative behaviors practiced unaware for years and helping participants understand that to become successful tenants or to regain control of their finances, they must be open to change. Once they are willing to do this, we not only try to help by continuing to educate them and provide solutions to the barriers they face, but we also look at all the different components of their situation and devise a course of action for them to take.

Working With Service Providers

Each participant's housing situation is unique; because of this, Supportive Housing partners with several different types of housing providers to help participants gain access to services as well as to safe, decent, affordable housing. Each participant's situation is addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Services We Do Not Provide

Ready to Rent does not guarantee housing placement. We do provide leads, and if there is a landlord with an opening who works with the program, we can make a referral.

Ready to Rent does not provide financial assistance for rent or income-based housing; however, a rental subsidy may be available if you meet certain criteria.

What It Takes to Graduate

Participants must:

Pay a non-refundable program fee of $25 for the course, by money order only, made payable to Supportive Housing

Attend every training session

Complete all work in and out of class

Develop a personal contract

Make up any missed class

RTR Stats:

Since its inception in 2000, RTR has more than 20,000 graduates.

More than 100 organizations in 16 states have taught RTR. Programs also exist in British Columbia and Newfoundland, Canada.